Penn State’s THON kicked off its 46-hour dance marathon on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center as the student-run philanthropy dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer marks a momentous year.
What started out with 78 students taking part in a dance-off in the HUB Ballroom in 1973 is now in its 50th year, having grown to raise $190 million for Four Diamonds at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital. The world’s largest student-run philanthropy, it ensured that nearly 5,000 families never saw a bill for their child’s cancer treatment. It’s helped grow resources and research.
This year, 667 official dancers are being joined by thousands of student volunteers, supporters and the families they benefit, all of whom will pack the Jordan Center until 4 p.m. on Sunday, when the annual fundraising total is revealed as the culmination of a yearlong effort.
It also marks a return to THON as an in-person event after going virtual last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is just a thrill to be able to be here, to see so many friendly faces,” Four Diamonds Executive Director Suzanne Graney said. “THON and Four Diamonds are about community — community that creates hope and love. Everything that we do is for the kids, and so it is a joy to be able to see the community in person this weekend and to share this exciting, momentous THON 50th anniversary with everyone online and in the Bryce Jordan Center this weekend.”
Though the circumstances have changed and cases are on the wane of late, COVID-19 has still been very much a factor as this year’s event was planned.
Masks, of course, are required everywhere inside the BJC, per university policy. Most people on the floor and mezzanine levels are required to be vaccinated, while anyone entering the BJC is required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.
“We have spent a lot of time over the past year discussing with so many different people — the university, professionals at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Four Diamonds, Student Affairs at the university — to ensure that we’re having a safe event,” THON Executive Director Kate Colgan, a Penn State senior, said. “So we’ve spent a lot of time in conversation with them determining whether the event was something that could be held at all and then going through and determining what the safety protocols would be to ensure we could hold a safe event… We feel really confident we’re going to be able to hold a safe and successful event this weekend for all involved.”
Of special concern though are the kids for whom all this is done. General guidance stated that Four Diamonds families whose children are on active treatment would not attend in person, though case-by-case decisions could be made with the written consent of their oncologist.
Technology enhancements and virtual programming implemented last year were ramped up even further to make sure those children and families who could not attend can participate.
“In any normal year there would be a lot of families that wouldn’t be able to attend because even if it’s not COVID there’s a cold or a flu going around that could be really detrimental to a child who is immunocompromised,” Colgan said. “This year we’re really excited to be able to engage with those families virtually in a way that we’ve never been able to before… We have a lot planned for them and we’ve heard really good feedback from them about what we have planned.”
Nolan Marett, THON public relations director and a Penn State senior, said that started with livestreaming for the first time all of the pre-THON events throughout the year, like the 5k and 100 Days ‘Til THON celebration.
“We were able to engage so many of our families,” Marett said. “We are expanding that into THON weekend. This livestream this weekend is on par with and better than what we had last year, very engaging, and we are excited for everyone that is able to tune into that.”
THON 2022 also marks the first edition of the event without Charles Millard, who co-founded Four Diamonds with his wife, Irma, after losing their son Christopher to cancer when he was 14. Charles Millard died in November at the age of 93.
“We have built this on the shoulders of those that have come before us,” Graney said. “We talk about that at THON and at Four Diamonds. None of this happened overnight. It was all built cumulatively, energy building upon energy. One of the things I remember loving that I would hear Charles talk about is there’s a quote that he said, ‘Maybe Einstein’s right. Maybe we’re all just energy and energy doesn’t die. It comes back in a different form.’ I like to think about that energy still being here and taking a different form.
“That energy continues to drive us into the future, as he would have wanted, as Chris would have wanted. As all of us look forward to the day when we dance in celebration that there is no childhood cancer anymore, it will be that cumulative energy that everybody gave that makes that possible.”
Stacia Millard Bird, Charles and Irma’s daughter, carried on the family’s longstanding tradition of attending THON.
“It’s a little bittersweet for me this year, but I’m always excited to be here surrounded by such love and dedication,” she said. “I know it’s going to keep him amongst us forever.”
Continuing Millard’s legacy, THON’s 50th anniversary provided an occasion to reflect on the past and look to to the future.
That is encapsulated in this year’s theme of “Spark Endless Light,” represented by a logo, designed by graphic design student Caitlyn McHenry, featuring two children watching fireworks above.
“Our theme was selected as an understanding of the place that we see us ourselves at now as an organization coming out of a really challenging year but looking forward to the future,” Colgan said. “That was the meaning behind ‘spark endless light,’ the idea that THON is endless … and it’s a spark that’s creating light in some of the darkest times in these families lives.”
Inside the Jordan Center on Friday night, the joyous activity of the past was once again present.
Mayor Ezra Nanes opened the weekend by declaring State College “City of THON” for the next 46 hours. Four Diamonds children took the stage for the first “mail call” of the weekend, delivering letters of support to the dancers. Everyone began learning this year’s line dance, an annual tradition of custom moves and lyrics that recount events of the past year.
Entertainment was constant, highlighted by a surprise performance by national recording artist and singer-songwriter Chelsea Cutler.
By the end of the weekend, THON will very possibly raise another $10 million or more for Four Diamonds and surpass $200 million all-time.
But the total isn’t the point for those who spend years devoting their time and energy to THON and pediatric cancer patients.
“In our minds, any amount of money that we raise is that much amount of money closer to a cure for childhood cancer,” Colgan said. “I think at the end of this weekend I will just feel so proud of whatever that amount is because we know we helped get us that much closer to a cure for childhood cancer. I think that’s the legacy that we leave behind, that we continue to contribute and continue to get us closer to a day when we dance in celebration of a cure.”
Graney said the amount of money raised by THON has been “incredible,” allowing Four Diamonds and the Children’s Hospital to provide comprehensive services at no cost to patients and families and expand the hospital’s pediatric cancer research enterprise.
“Every dollar in my mind is an expression of hope, an expression of care, an expression of love,” Graney said. “They mean so much more to us than a dollar because it’s what they represent in terms of hope for a cure.”
And that hope has grown over the past half-century. In looking back on documents from the past, Graney found that in one of THON’s earliest years partnering with Four Diamonds, it assisted 20 families. By the time the year-end report had been compiled, 16 of those children had died.
“When we think about the survival rate and how that has changed from then to now, we have made as a community such significant progress that it is special to get to be here at a time when success rates continue to grow,” Graney said “We feel like we’re on the cusp of science having a better understanding of how we can treat childhood cancer differently because of the investment in research. It’s the combination of all those things that makes it super exciting as well as being able to be here all together.”
